This report is distributed to e-mail participants of the
Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network (NAPSNet). Please send news items, contributions to
the discussion section, or subscription requests, to the
Daily Report Editor at: napsnet@nautilus.org
Previous Daily Reports may be accessed (using either web
browsers or ftp software) at:
ftp://ftp.nautilus.org/napsnet/daily_reports
In the coming weeks and months, the NAPSNet Daily Report
will be undergoing significant revisions.
We invite and welcome your suggestions and reactions
as we endeavor to improve this service.
In today's Report:
1. Venue Set for Four-Party Talks Briefing
United Press International ("N.KOREA AGREES TO DATE FOR
BRIEFING," Washington, 01/16/97) reported that the US State
Department said Thursday that the DPRK has agreed to have the
formal US briefing on the four-party peace talks proposal take
place on January 29. The location is yet to be determined.
Progress toward reaching an agreement to convene the four-party
talks, which would involve the US, the PRC, the DPRK and the ROK,
was interrupted by the DPRK submarine incursion into ROK
territory last September. The DPRK agreed in principle to attend
a briefing on the proposal as part of the resolution to the
submarine incursion incident last month.
The Associated Press ("S. KOREA FAMILY FLEES TO NORTH," Seoul,
01/16/97) reported that the DPRK's official Korean Central News
Agency announced Thursday that a ROK family of four has defected
to the DPRK. Kuk Chol-jung, 36, who defected with his wife and
their two children, aged seven and three, was quoted as saying,
"I was convinced that the only way for my family is to come over
to the North in which the popular masses form a great harmonious
family." While an increasing number of DPRK citizens are fleeing
to the ROK, defections in the opposite direction are rare. [Ed.
note: Please see related item in the ROK section, below.]
3. ROK Official Apologizes On Labor Law
The Associated Press (Sang-hun Choe, "SKOREA APOLOGIZES FOR LABOR
LAW," Seoul, 01/16/97) reported that the ROK's governing party
chairman Lee Hong-koo on Thursday apologized for railroading the
new labor bill through Parliament. "It is very regrettable that
the revision of the law was not smooth ... for which I am very
sorry," Lee said at a news conference. The law, which has
sparked ongoing nationwide strikes and street violence, was
passed in a seven-minute pre-dawn session on December 26 without
opposition party members in attendance. The apology marked a
step back from President Kim Young-sam's hard-line stand. But
Lee ruled out the possibility of rewriting the law "for now," as
strikers demand, saying only that the law could be changed later
if and when problems arise in its implementation. Lee's
concession failed to placate union leaders. "It is not even
worth consideration at all. We are prepared for a prolonged
struggle and we are confident that public opinion is on our
side," said Kwon Young-gil, head of the illegal Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions spearheading protest strikes.
Meanwhile, some ten thousand workers rallied Thursday at a
downtown park in Seoul. A brief pushing match resulted when
demonstrators tried to shove through a police barricade to reach
the Roman Catholic Myongdong Cathedral, where the union leaders
have set up headquarters. Police fired several volleys of tear
gas to disperse the demonstrators, but the confrontation was
milder than Wednesday's, when 150 union members and supporters
were arrested.
4. ROK Strike Leaders Arrested
Reuters ("S.KOREA ARRESTS 3 MORE UNIONISTS IN CRACKDOWN," Seoul,
01/16/97) reported that ROK police on Thursday arrested three
more strike leaders at the shipyard in the southwestern town of
Yongam, on charges of beating up workers who refused to join the
strikes. A fourth union leader was arrested on Tuesday night on
similar charges, according to prosecution officials. Unionists
interpreted the arrests as further indication of an impending
crackdown, following the accusation by the country's top
prosecutor that the DPRK may be fanning industrial unrest in an
effort to topple the ROK government. However, top union leaders
remained defiant. The president of the outlawed Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions, Kwon Young-kil, told reporters at
Seoul's Myongdong Cathedral, where he and six other confederation
leaders are sheltering from arrest, "The confederation could
prolong the current strikes for more than two months."
5. Outgoing US Secretary of State on Korean Situation
US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, soon to leave office,
said in a television interview shown on Thursday ("CHRISTOPHER
INTERVIEW ON NBC-TV "TODAY" SHOW," USIA Transcript, 01/16/97)
that the US is "safer now" than when he took office four years
ago, but noted that "there are a number of worry spots left in
the world, of course." Christopher mentioned the Middle East as
one such area, and then added, "I think we've always been
concerned about the threat from North Korea." Asked about the
prospects of Korean unification, Christopher said, "I see that as
certainly being the goal of the United States and South Korea
over time. I think we've frozen the nuclear program in North
Korea, which has been a major step forward." Christopher also
said that as Secretary of State, his "biggest lesson" was the
importance of US leadership in the world.
United Press International (Kyong-Hya Suk, "S.KOREA TO SAVE BULL
STRANDED IN DMZ," Seoul, 01/16/97) reported that the United
Nations Command along the Demilitarized Zone between the two
Korean states will send a contingent of ROK Marines to an island
in the DMZ to rescue an ox. UN Command spokesman Jim Coles said,
"We notified the North Koreans during a joint duty officer
meeting today that we will be conducting the operation tomorrow
so that they would not be surprised." Cole said going to the
island does not require permission from the DPRK. Military
officials say the animal was stranded by floods and will be
rescued in part because there could be anti-personnel mines in
the area. The plight of the animal gained national media
coverage in the ROK after local officials sought ROK government
permission to send food to the island, as part of a plan through
which they also hoped to gain DPRK cooperation to supply the bull
with a mate. However, that plan was dropped, in part because
environmentalists argued that introducing foreign animals would
destroy the island's natural habitat and endanger rare birds.
[Ed. note: For an earlier related item please see "Bull Requires
DPRK-ROK Cooperation" in the US section of the January 9 Daily
Report.]
The DPRK has reportedly decided to inaugurate its de-facto leader
Kim Jong-il as the general secretary of the Korea Workers' Party
in April. A visit by Kim Jong-il to the PRC in June is also
being pursued, a diplomatic source in Seoul said yesterday. The
source stated, "the DPRK appears to have placed top priority on
improving ties with the US in order to maintain the current
regime as well as to break out of the current state of isolation
from the international community. To this end, DPRK authorities
apparently decided that transfer of power to Kim Jong-il is
inevitable." The source also reported that Kim Jong-il will
visit the PRC in June after assuming the position of party
general secretary. The DPRK government will be reshuffled before
the three-year mourning period for the late Great Leader Kim Il-
sung ends on July 8. The DPRK presidency will be filled after
June as well. (Joong-ang Ilbo, "KIM JONG-IL TO ASSUME POSITION
OF PARTY GENERAL SECRETARY IN APRIL," Seoul, 01/16/97)
2. ROK Strikes Raise Class Issues
Choi Byong-kuk, public security director at the Prosecutor-
General's Office, said yesterday that prosecutions will proceed
unless the Minju Nochong (Democratic Federation of Trade Unions)
leadership and other strike leaders immediately stop illegal
strikes. He said that the general strike has brought an enormous
difficulty to the national economy and the people, and has now
taken on the character of a class struggle. He said that
leaflets were found at the Myongdong Cathedral (where the strike
leaders are now holed up) that called for the overthrow of the
capitalist government by workers, to be replaced by a workers
government. Also, the DPRK lately has begun using Pyongyang
Radio to call on ROK workers to overthrow the civilian government
in Seoul, Choi added. (KPS, "STRIKE IS DEGENERATING INTO CLASS
STRUGGLE," Seoul, 01/16/97)
The DPRK Central Broadcasting System Tuesday reported the
defection of a four-member ROK family to the DPRK. Kuk Chol-
jung, his wife, Yu Kyong-ok, 33, and his two children Jin-su and
Su-jong, all appeared on a DPRK radio program, at which time Kuk
identified himself as a former employee at Taekook Electronics
Co. in Seoul. Kuk said he decided to come to the DPRK because of
the vicious cycle of the rich getting richer and the poor getting
poorer in the ROK. ROK authorities acknowledged the defection,
but did not comment either on Kuk's profile or on details of the
family's flight, such as the time and manner that the family
entered the DPRK. (The Korea Herald, "NORTH REPORTS DEFECTION OF
ROKN FAMILY," Seoul, 01/16/97) [Ed. note: Please see related
item in the US section, above.]
Russian Defense Minister Igor Rodyonov reportedly said in a
letter to military officers that Russia is seeking a strategic
partnership with the PRC. Minister Rodyonov's letter was sent to
correct misunderstandings on "China's threat" among many
officers. The letter said that most border region disarmament
negotiations are being concluded positively, and that after the
borders are legally demarcated, obstacles to the improvement of
Russia-PRC bilateral relations will be eliminated. (Hankyoreh
Shinmun, "RUSSIA SEEKS PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PRC," Moscow,
01/16/97)
5. US View of PRC-Russia Relations
The US acknowledges that the PRC has become a major buyer of
Russian weapons technology, but sees no sign of a developing PRC-
Russian alliance that could threaten the US. "The Russians are
exporting quite a bit of arms technology to the PRC," said
Winston Lord, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and
Pacific affairs, but added, "We don't think it has reached
alarming proportions." (The Korea Times, "THE PRC BECOME MAJOR
BUYER OF RUSSIAN WEAPONS TECH," 01/16/97) [Ed. note: For
further information on this item, please see "US View of PRC-
Russia Relations" in the US section of the January 14 Daily
Report.]
The Russian navy announced yesterday that it had successfully
test-fired a new submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from
a submarine in the Pacific Ocean. The announcement said that the
RSM-50 missile hit its designated target on the Kamchatka
peninsula in the Russian Far East. (Chosun Ilbo, "RUSSIA
SUCCEEDS NEW SUBMARINE LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSILE (SLBM) TEST
FIRE," Seoul, 01/16/97)
1. DPRK to Attend US-ROK Briefing
China Daily ("DPRK AGREES TO ATTEND US-S. KOREAN BRIEFING,"
Seoul, A11, 1/14/97) reported that the DPRK has agreed to attend
a joint US-ROK briefing this month to pave the way for four-party
talks to establish permanent peace on the Korean peninsula.
"Agreement has been reached between the two sides (Pyongyang and
Washington) to hold the briefing in New York on January 29," the
Daily said, quoting an official of the ROK foreign ministry.
According to the report, the official declined to give details,
but the Yonhap news agency quoted government sources as saying
the agreement came in talks in New York on January 13. Vice-
ministerial level officials from the three sides reportedly will
participate in the briefing. [Ed. note: As reported in the
January 14 Daily Report, the US State Department has not yet
confirmed that the date or venue for the briefing session have
been set.]
The ROK Foreign Ministry issued a statement on January 12
expressing deep regrets that Japan, without the ROK government's
approval, used money from a private fund to compensate World War
II "comfort women," People's Daily ("ROK FOREIGN MINISTRY SUMMONS
JAPANESE AMBASSADOR," Seoul, A6, 1/13/97) reported. The
statement stressed that the historical issue must be resolved by
the governments directly. According to People's Daily, on
January 11, seven ROK women who were used as sex-slaves by the
Japanese army during WWII each received 2 million yen and a
letter of apology from Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
For this issue, the Japanese Ambassador was summoned to ROK
Foreign Ministry. The incident took place just before the
Japanese Foreign Minister's visit to the ROK and ROK President
Kim Young-sam's visit to Japan, and may become a new focus of
ROK-Japanese diplomatic friction. [Ed. note: Please see related
items in preceding Daily Reports]
Reacting to Japan's setting of prerequisites for the
establishment of DPRK-Japanese diplomatic relations, a DPRK
Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed on January 10 that if Japan
did not expose and criticize its past, normalization would be
impossible [Jie Fang Daily ("JAPAN URGED TO CORRECTLY REALIZE ITS
PAST," Pyongyang, A4, 1/12/97)]. The spokesman called Japan
insincere in its stated intent to improve DPRK-Japan relations,
and called on the Japanese side to correctly understand the
situation and return to the conference table as soon as possible.
The Daily also reported publication of a commentary by Rodong
Shinmun on January 11 that criticized recent remarks by the
Japanese Prime Minister as implying that Japan intends to act
aggressively toward other countries and aims to dominate the
world. The commentary warned Japanese authorities not to forget
historical lessons.
People's Daily ("US IMPORT CUTS TO BE DELAYED," Beijing, A4,
1/10/97) reported that the PRC Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation (Moftec) announced on January 9 that the PRC
will postpone a decision to cut certain US imports because of
progress in PRC-US textile talks. US and PRC official
delegations decided to start a fourth round of textile
negotiations in Beijing on January 27. Because during the third
round of talks in December the US delegation said that its
customs agency was reexamining its decision to penalize the PRC
for allegedly exporting Chinese-made textiles through a third
country, and that it would present the results of this
reexamination in the next round of talks, the PRC decided to
postpone its deadline for suspension of imports until the end of
January.
Wen Hui Daily ("SMUGGLER PUNISHED," Shanghai, A2, 1/14/97)
reported that an American was sentenced to a 10-year jail term,
and was fined 500,000 yuan (about US$60,000) on January 13 for
smuggling waste garbage into the PRC from the US. William Ping
Chen was given the sentence by the Shanghai No 1 Intermediary
People's Court in the first ruling, and was also ordered to be
deported. Chen, 56, shipped a total of 238 tons of domestic
garbage and medical waste in 16 containers from the US into
Shanghai between July and December of 1995.
An investigation team from the US arrived in Guilin on January 13
to look into the cause of the crash of a WWII US bomber, China
Daily ("CAUSE OF WWII CRASH STUDIED," A2) reported on January 14.
The team of eight members is led by Alan Liotta, deputy director
of the POW/MIA Office of the US Defense Department, the report
said. They headed for the crash site on January 14 for mail
detail. A ceremony to hand over the crew's remains will be held
in Beijing on January 17. According to the report, the crashed
bomber was discovered last October by two farmers collecting
medicinal herbs on Mao'er Mountain, believed to be the highest
peak in the southern PRC. Liotta expressed sincere appreciation
and gratitude to the PRC on behalf of the US government, after
reviewing some of the wreckage brought down from the valley and
the remains of the crew, the report said. This is the second
time the POW/MIA Office has come to the PRC to bring back the
remains of missing soldiers since the end of the WWII, said
Liotta. The first occurred in 1993 after a plane crash was
reported in Tibet.
People's Daily ("JIANG ZEMIN: DEVELOPING HEALTHY AND STABLE SINO-
US RELATIONS ON THE BASIS OF THREE JOINT COMMUNIQUES," Beijing,
A1, 1/15/97) reported that PRC President Jiang Zemin on January
met with William Roth, chairman of the Finance Committee of the
US Senate, and then with a US Congressional delegation headed by
Representative Jim Kolbe. During his meeting with Senator Roth,
President Jiang said that developing economic and trade
cooperation between the PRC and the US is conducive to
establishing an open and healthy international economic
environment and to promoting the prosperity of regional and
global economies. Jiang emphasized that the Taiwan issue is
always the most important and sensitive issue in PRC-US
relations. When meeting with the US Congressional delegation
headed by Kolbe, Jiang reiterated the significance of the
development of PRC-US relationship. Jiang said that the US
Congress is very important in the formulation of US domestic and
foreign policies, and that he hopes the congressmen continue to
use their positive influence to help Congress to play a
constructive role in the development of PRC-US relations.
5. PRC Veto of Guatemala Resolution
On January 12-13, the PRC's main newspapers published
commentaries supporting the government's veto of the UN draft
resolution on peacekeeping in Guatemala. People's Daily ("VETO
JUSTIFIED," A3, 1/12/97) said that the PRC, as a permanent member
of UN Security Council, has always been very prudent in its use
of the veto. The Guatemalan government should bear full
responsibility for what has happened, it said, for it is the
Guatemalan government that hurt the feelings of the Chinese
people and tore down the basis for cooperation between the two
countries in the UN. The PRC's action in the UN is not only
reasonable but also restrained, the commentary said. The PRC may
reconsider the UN draft resolution if the Guatemalan government
indeed treasures its peace process and makes sincere moves toward
removing the obstacles, it quoted PRC Ambassador to the UN Qin
Huasun as saying. People's Liberation Army Daily ("ONE WHO LIFTS
A ROCK WILL DROP IT ON HIS OWN TOES," A5, 1/13/97) emphasized
that it is the Guatemalan government that forced the PRC to
exercise its veto. Now, the Guatemalan government is eating its
own bitter fruit, the commentary concluded.
6. PRC Nuclear Plant Loan Contracts Signed
China Daily ("CONTRACTS INKED FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT," A5,
1/14/97) reported that loan agreements totaling US$1.84 billion
were signed in Beijing on January 13 to fund a nuclear power
plant in Zhejiang Province. The agreements were signed between
the State Development Bank (SDB), the Export Development Company
of Canada (EDC), and the US Export-Import Bank (Eximbank). The
money will be used to import equipment for the construction of
the third phase of the Qinshan nuclear power plant, the report
said. Under the agreements, the loans will be repaid in 15 years
with a grace period of seven years. The loans carry an interest
rate of 6.54 per cent, lower than that for commercial loans on
the current world market. Besides the lower interest rate, SDB's
efforts also received other favorable conditions for credit,
offered by the EDC and Eximbank for the first time. An SDB
official said its efforts saved nearly US$200 million in
investments for the nation.
The NAPSNet Daily Report aims to serve as a forum for dialogue
and exchange among peace and security specialists.
Conventions for readers and a list of acronyms and
abbreviations are available to all recipients.
We invite you to reply to today's report, and we welcome
commentary or papers for distribution to the network.
Web sites used to gather information for this report include:
Produced by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development.
Wade Huntley: napsnet@nautilus.org
Shin Dong-bom: gator@star.elim.co.kr
Peter Razvin: icipu@glas.apc.org
Chunsi Wu: dlshen@fudan.ihep.ac.cn
Dingli Shen: dlshen@fudan.ihep.ac.cn
Hiroyasu Akutsu: akutsu@glocomnet.or.jp
Return to the top of this Daily Report
1. Venue Set for Four-Party Talks Briefing
II. Republic of Korea
2. ROK Family Defects to DPRK
3. ROK Official Apologizes On Labor Law
4. ROK Strike Leaders Arrested
5. Outgoing US Secretary of State on Korean Situation
6. ROK To Rescue Bull
1. Kim Jong-il's Accession
III. People's Republic of China
2. ROK Strikes Raise Class Issues
3. ROK Family Defects to DPRK
4. PRC-Russia Relations
5. US View of PRC-Russia Relations
6. Russian Navy
1. DPRK to Attend US-ROK Briefing
2. ROK-Japan Relations
3. DPRK-Japan Relations
4. PRC-US Relations
5. PRC Veto of Guatemala Resolution
6. PRC Nuclear Plant Loan Contracts Signed
I. United States
II. Republic of Korea
III. People's Republic of China
http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/international/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/asia.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/
http://interactive5.wsj.com/edition/current/summaries/asia.htm
http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/
http://cnn.com/WORLD/index.html
http://www.usia.gov/products/washfile.htm
http://www.un.org/News/
Some of these sites require registration.
For more information on other related web sites, please visit
the Nautilus Institute web site: http://www.nautilus.org/
Berkeley, California, United States
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Moscow, Russian Federation
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Tokyo, Japan